Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

This year we visited the pumpkin patch earlier in October than we normally do. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, so after a breakfast of pancakes, we headed over to play at the pumpkin patch and pick out a few pumpkins to carve. The pumpkin patch is only a few miles from our house and is one of the last working farms in the city. They put on a great pumpkin patch too, complete with a corn maze, hay rides to feed the cows (only in the evenings, so we'll have to return to do it), little tractors for the kids to ride around a track, an old truck and tractor to take pictures on, a little hay bale house, a play structure for the kids, popcorn and snacks for sale, and of course, lots of pumpkins!

Sofia loves it and I'm convinced she would spend the entire day there if we let her. We made the rounds, as we normally do, so she could ride the tractors and play in the hay bale house and play structure. Finally we picked out two pumpkins to take home and carve. Sofia also picked out three little pumpkins.

Sofia and Olivia at the pumpkin patch.....Olivia wasn't as enamored as Sofia.


Our girls


A close up...as Olivia tells us she's done!


Sofia in the old truck! I love this photo!


Such a ham!


Mommy and Olivia


My girls and I!


Papa and his girls!


I love this photo!


A close-up of my three favorite people!


Sofia pulling the pumpkins we selected.


Olivia and our pumpkins....she slept through the entire experience.


Such a happy sleeper.

Olivia at 6 Weeks

Our little girl is 6 weeks old and growing up so quickly! She weighs 12.2 lbs already and most of her "Newborn" clothes don't fit her any more because she's so long now, while most of her "0-3 month" clothes will likely not fit her much longer. She seems to be growing longer faster than I remember with Sofia. She's really starting to become much more aware of her surroundings and loves to look around and stare off into the distance. She particularly loves looking out the window or at lights, although she also loves looking at patterns (she loves my robe). She's happy to enjoy looking around after she's eaten and seems to really be taking it all in. We're convinced her first smile is just around the corner and she's particularly responsive to CK. She's a good little girl and changing so quickly!

Not such a little girl anymore


Such a cutie!


Sort of a smile....


Stretching!


It's just so hard being a little girl!

Olivia at 5 Weeks

She's 5 weeks old and has entered into the "fussy" stage that it seems all infants get into.... The interesting thing about Olivia is that she's very alert and is often awake for hours without a nap (unlike Sofia, who slept constantly other than when she was eating at this age). Plus, she tends to fight sleep for a bit during the day, needing either to be in the sling and walked around or cuddled with the pacifier. Once she's asleep though, she'll sleep a good chunk. However, if we're running around, in and out of the car, she tends to stay awake for long stretches and then by the afternoon she's so exhausted that she can't go to sleep! So, she cries...sometimes for a long time. So, my goal is to ensure that she gets good long naps during the day and she's usually fine at night without any crying.

As far as her nighttime sleep, she's a champ! She usually nurses around 9 or 10pm, depending on when she last ate, and then will often go 4, or sometimes 5, hours before her next feeding, After that, she's very consistently eating every 3 hours. So, a typical night will include a feeding at 10pm, 2 or 3am, then 5 or 6am...so, it isn't too bad thankfully! Plus, she eats and goes directly back to sleep, so we are all getting a decent night of sleep.

Olivia is already a Papa's gal. He can hold her and calm her down much more quickly than I can and doesn't fuss as much when he's getting her dressed or changing a diaper, unlike with me. She's also started to coo with CK, something I haven't yet seen. With me, Olivia thinks I'm her meal delivery, so she generally tries to suck on my shoulder, arm, shirt, etc whenever I hold her, even if she's recently eaten. So, it works out well that CK hangs out with her after work and gives me a break. If she's fussy when he gets home he's usually able to calm her down, something I still can't do very quickly. So, I'm very thankful for our different abilities.

Olivia at 5 weeks


Olivia's close-up


Little girl in a big chair


Olivia and her big sister


Sofia loves holding Olivia


Our girls!


Papa and his littlest gal

The Texas State Fair

With John, Yvonne and Beatrix visiting us, we figured we'd take them to the Texas State Fair to get a feel of "real America" and some fried food. We had fun walking around and checking out all the sights and booths of the fair. It was a pretty warm day and little Olivia slept in the stroller or in the sling, but was a trooper throughout the day. Sofia loved the petting zoo and we spent a lot of time feeding and petting the animals before moving on to try the fried s'more (my personal favorite). We also split a funnel cake later in the day. Since they are from England, John and Yvonne had never even heard of a funnel cake before. We stopped by Big Tex and then ended up at the ferris wheel, which CK and Sofia rode while we sat in the shade. We were all pretty beat from the heat, so we headed home after that. It was a fun day!

Sweet baby

Feeding the goats

Meeting the camel

Little Olivia is snug as a bug

Eating our fried s'mores

Big Tex

Their very first funnel cake

The ferris wheel

Sofia on the ferris wheel

Our little sleepy head

Sofia's Namesake Visits

One of CK's closest friend's came to visit us with her family. Sofia is actually named after Yvonne (it's her middle name) and CK and Yvonne have been close since they went to graduate school together at LSE. Yvonne is now married (we went to their wedding in London in December 2009) and they have an adorable little girl named Beatrix who is just about one. Yvonne, John and Beatrix are visiting the States for several weeks and we feel lucky that they had time to stay with us for a few days. We had so much fun showing them around Texas, taking them to "real" BBQ and just catching up. They brought the girls beautiful dresses that look great one them. Sofia's is very long and she put it on and declared that it is her very favorite!

Sofia wearing her new dress with Yvonne

Yvonne, John and Beatrix in Ft. Worth

All of us

Sofia shows Beatrix how to ride!

Olivia at 4 Weeks

Our little girl is growing and gaining weight! I decided to weigh Olivia on her one month birthday to see how she's progressing and was shocked to find that she's now 10 pounds 4 ounces!! That was fast! She also moved out of Newborn size diapers and into Size 1. Looking back even to the previous week's photos is shocking at the difference of how much she seems to have grown. She's doing really well and we're enjoying having an infant in the house much more than we did with Sofia, simply because we know what to expect and are much more relaxed about the whole process. Plus, there's always Sofia to entertain us (and baby sister).

Last week, on the advice of our pediatrician, we had an ultrasound of Olivia's hips done at the hospital because there is some chance that girls who are born in the breach position can develop hip dysplasia which causes more problems down the road. After, I took her to a pediatric orthopedic who looked over the ultrasound and recommended that we put little Olivia into a Pavlik Harness (google it - it looks like an early torture device) for up to 8 weeks! Needles to say, it was a very upsetting diagnosis and difficult to believe that she would wear the harness without notice, as the doctors kept saying. We decided on a second opinion and thanks to CK's boss, we were able to go to Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas which is on the cutting edge of childhood bone and muscular issues. Thankfully, the pediatric orthopedic there, Dr. Rathjen, looked over the ultrasound images and suggested that we reevaluate the decision in a month. He felt that the mild problem he saw on the ultrasound would correct itself naturally in a matter of weeks, however, if it doesn't or gets worse, she'll have to wear the harness. He didn't feel that she'll need to wear it though, thankfully! So, at only a few weeks old, we've already been through our first stressful parenting event with Olivia. Otherwise, Olivia is doing great and we're enjoying our infant before she's a big girl like her sister!

She doesn't suck her thumb, but when she's hungry (like in the photo), she tries to chew on her hand....


"Mom, I'm hungry!"


Such a little girl in a big chair!


Look at those big eyes - they are blue, although they don't look it in this photo.

Happy Birthday, Mommy!

For my birthday, we asked our wonderful babysitter Megan to come watch the girls while we went out to dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant with our friends Harvey and Thelma. Megan brought her Mom with her to help out (and to meet Olivia). We ended up being out for just over 2 hours and it was a nice, but somewhat strange, break. It was a fantastic meal with great friends, but also felt strange to be away from the gals. Olivia did great and slept the entire time we were gone, while Sofia was busy playing with trains (we told Megan she didn't have to worry about putting Sofia to bed). It was a very nice birthday celebration!

Happy Birthday with gifts....holding the two best gifts in the world!


My sweet girls!


CK and me just before we head out...